# US 9,437,753 B2 · Device comprising electrical contacts and its production process

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- Number: US 9,437,753 B2
- Document ID: US9437753B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 13/501,177
- Filed: 2010-10-11
- Published: 2012-09-27
- Granted: 2016-09-06
- Earliest claimed: 2009-10-13
- Assignees: Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (Epfl) Epfl-Tto
- Applicants: Christophe Ballif
- Inventors: Christophe Ballif
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9437753B2

## CPC

- H10F 77/211: {for photovoltaic cells}
- H10F 77/20: Electrodes
- H10F 19/90: Structures for connecting between photovoltaic cells, e.g. interconnections or insulating spacers (between thin-film photovoltaic cells on a single substrate H10F19/35)
- H10F 19/904: {characterised by the shapes of the structures}
- H10F 77/215: {Geometries of grid contacts}
- Y02E 10/50: Photovoltaic [PV] energy
- H10F: INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
- Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION

## Abstract

A device includes a conductive surface (12) and electrical contacts (14) by which an electric current is able to be passed. The electrical contacts (14) include conductive seeds (16) deposited on the conductive surface (12), an electrically insulating layer (18), which covers discontinuously the conductive seeds (16) in order to form openings leaving access to the conductive seeds (16), and a plating layer (22) recovering the discontinuous insulating layer (18) and deposited on conductive seeds (16) which are accessible through the openings and form points from which the deposit of the plating layer (22) can start. The rest of the conductive surface (12), which doesn't include any electrical contacts (14), is continuously covered by the electrically insulating layer (18).

## Claims

### Claim 1

A solar cell comprising:
a conductive surface; and
electrical contacts by which an electric current is able to be passed, the electrical contacts comprising
conductive seeds including a first plurality of conductive seeds and a second plurality of conductive seeds, the conductive seeds deposited on the conductive surface as a pattern of contact lines, the conductive seeds being made of a conductive paste containing particles
an electrically insulating layer discontinuously covering said conductive seeds forming openings leaving access to said conductive seeds, the electrically insulating layer directly covering a portion of each of the first plurality of conductive seeds, a remaining portion of each of the first plurality of conductive seeds corresponding to said openings in said electrically insulating layer are not directly covered by the electrically insulating layer, the second plurality of conductive seeds are not directly covered by the electrically insulating layer, and
a plating layer covering said electrically insulating layer and deposited on the conductive seeds accessible through said openings, wherein the remaining portion of each of the first plurality of conductive seeds is in contact with said plating layer conductive seeds,
the conductive surface, the conductive seeds, and the plating layer being in electrical contact, the conductive seeds being in electrical contact with the plating later, the plating layer being in electrical contact with the conductive surface,
wherein a portion of the conductive surface that does not include any of the electrical contacts is continuously covered by said electrically insulating layer.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The solar cell according to claim 1, wherein the conductive seeds contain silver.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The solar cell according to claim 1, wherein the electrically insulating layer is optically transparent.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The solar cell according to claim 1, wherein the electrically insulating layer comprises one layer or a stack of layers made of materials selected from the group consisting of MgF, silicon nitride, ZnS, TiO2, SiO2, silicon oxynitride and Al2O3.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The solar cell according to claim 1, wherein the plating layer is made of a material selected from the group consisting of Ag and Cu.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The solar cell according to claim 1, wherein the electrical contacts form a pattern designed for current collection.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The solar cell according to claim 1, wherein said solar cell is a silicon heterojunction solar cell.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The solar cell according to claim 1, wherein the openings are formed in a portion of the electrically insulating layer that covers the conductive seeds.